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  • Side project for work

    So my boss emails me and the one other techie guy in the company and asks us to come up with a bunch of computer "did you know..." Questions/facts. What I'll get paid for all these questions is almost another paycheck! Oh and I was given 3 days to do it.

    So I came up with things like who came up with the first GUI, what the first commercially available home computer was, etc. Meanwhile the other guy was doing things like keyboard short cuts to do various functions.

    Then after I finished my boss is like "I may have you come up with some more later."

    I was under the impression those were going in all our software packages, not just one.

    /sigh

    I know it's up to the owner, but really at a certain point it's going to be hard to come up with new ones.

  • #2
    Is it more like a FAQ type of question or just trivia? I'm a trivia mine-if you want some extras,let me know..
    The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

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    • #3
      I have one for you. Who invented the first computer (in the modern sense) and when?

      SPOILER (typed in white) Charles Babbage invented his analytical machine in 1922. Image where we would be now computer-wise if he just could have gotten funding!

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      • #4
        It's computer related trivia. The key here is computer related. If it was just trivia I have so much useless knowledge in my mind my boss would wonder about my sanity.

        Thanks Tesk, I'll get that answer after I get home. I'm on my phone and can't read white text.

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        • #5
          I can do computer trivia. ^_^ Did You Know...?

          - That modern cellphones are more powerful than the computers people were using to run their entire businesses just 15 years ago?

          - That the term "bug" (meaning, a program error) got its name when someone found a (quick-fried) moth that had caused a computer malfunction?

          - That 3.5" floppy disks were still being manufactured as recently as 2011?
          "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
          "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
          "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
          "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
          "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
          "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
          Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
          "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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          • #6
            Quoth Teskeria View Post
            I have one for you. Who invented the first computer (in the modern sense) and when?]
            The when is definitely wrong - typo?

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            • #7
              Quoth Teskeria View Post
              I have one for you. Who invented the first computer (in the modern sense) and when?
              Century typo. There are several steam-punk and/or alternate history novels that explore the theme you address, btw.

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              • #8
                My understanding is the computers on the lunar landing craft had less power than the early Texas instrument calculators
                "Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears." – Rudyard Kipling

                I don't have hot flashes. I have short, private vacations to the tropics.

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                • #9
                  Quoth Akasa View Post
                  I'm on my phone and can't read white text.
                  I cant read them on my phone either, but if I can't wait I can copy the text and paste it into a blank text message, email or notebook spot. When it pastes it does in black.
                  Pain and suffering are inevitable...misery is optional.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth EricKei View Post
                    - That the term "bug" (meaning, a program error) got its name when someone found a (quick-fried) moth that had caused a computer malfunction?
                    A commonly-held misconception. While someone on Admiral Hopper's team (but not Hopper herself) did indeed find a moth in a computer, the use of "bug" meaning "small glitches and inexplicable problems" had been around for years. Thomas Edison wrote about bugs in 1878, and the way he phrased it ("as such little faults and difficulties are called") suggests that the term may already have been in wide use.

                    Admiral Hopper is credited with the popularity of the the word re: computer software.

                    Quoth EricKei View Post
                    - That 3.5" floppy disks were still being manufactured as recently as 2011?
                    Wait... are you saying they're not being made any more? Crap. I have an old laptop that can only use floppies - no CD drive, no USB, and, sadly, no working nic.


                    Here's an addition to the trivia: Who wrote the first computer program? Answer: Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Her program was for Babbage's Analytical Engine.
                    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you speak with the Fraud department. -- CrazedClerkthe2nd
                    OW! Rolled my eyes too hard, saw my brain. -- Seanette
                    she seems to top me in crazy, and I'm enough crazy for my family. -- Cooper
                    Yes, I am evil. What's your point? -- Jester

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                    • #11
                      Floppies - yeah. Comps were still being made that had the drives until 2008 or so, IIRC. Maybe like 5-10% tops, but they still had them. You can still FIND blank floppies on some store shelves, tho. Heck, I was at our office manager's house last week setting up a replacement comp for her (we had to order more RAM for it...the ONE time bossman doesn't consult with me before buying a refurb computer, and it's the one time where the specs on it really DO matter x.x), and she still had an unused box or two. Her 'new' (Conroe-level Dual Core) system came with a floppy drive.
                      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Deserted View Post
                        Wait... are you saying they're not being made any more? Crap. I have an old laptop that can only use floppies - no CD drive, no USB, and, sadly, no working nic.
                        Yea, you need to migrate away from that box. Any remaining floppy stock you find isn't getting any younger and at some point you're going to find them being bad out of the bo as often as not.

                        Do the serial ports still work? You might be able to use those to do a bulk transfer without having to pull the HD into an external enclosure.
                        Life: Reality TV for deities. - dalesys

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                        • #13
                          I'm more likely to pull the drive than I am to go through any Herculean steps, especially if/when it goes belly-up.

                          Actually, now that I think about it, I could pull the drive, connect it to my workstation for transfers, then reconnect it. Hmm...

                          ETA: I already have the guts from an old enclosure on my desk for just such situation. Not sure why it didn't occur to me to use it.
                          Last edited by Deserted; 05-31-2014, 10:47 PM. Reason: derp
                          Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you speak with the Fraud department. -- CrazedClerkthe2nd
                          OW! Rolled my eyes too hard, saw my brain. -- Seanette
                          she seems to top me in crazy, and I'm enough crazy for my family. -- Cooper
                          Yes, I am evil. What's your point? -- Jester

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I love my fellow computer geeks here.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              It is our pleasure to help ^_^
                              "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                              "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                              "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                              "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                              "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                              "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                              Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                              "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                              Comment

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